The Emergency Room
by anonyreaderfan
Summary: 3.22 Missing scene from the hospital where Elena was taken after the car went over the bridge. Damon/Elena/Stefan


Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries is the property of the CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ X ~

Damon's intense blue eyes were crazy as he listened to Meredith. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His keen hearing picked up the sound of Matt, sequestered in another private room, telling Sheriff Forbes that Stefan had pulled him from the truck. Matt crying, wishing it had been him who drowned.

Damon couldn't think then, there was a buzzing in his head and everything became background noise. Meredith's mouth was moving but he couldn't understand what she was saying anymore. His eyes scanned the Emergency Room seeing everything at once. He went first to a refrigerator storage unit, the glass door revealing blood bags, and pulled out three, compelling the technician who attempted to intercede. Next, he headed to the wooden slats piled up with other equipment in the corner. He walked purposely over to them, grasping two. He saw Meredith's eyes widen and she tried to latch onto his arm and dig her heels in but he brushed her off like he would a gnat.

He walked into the room holding the body of Elena Gilbert, closing the door behind him and locking it. His eyes skipped over the body on the stretcher. He couldn't look yet, couldn't face it. Murderous eyes landed on his brother, sitting on a chair, hands clasped between his open knees. He hadn't even looked up when Damon entered, just sat staring at the stretcher, face drawn, eyes miserable.

Damon put down the blood bags and flashed over and Stefan was pinned to the wall, a slat through his stomach, just below the heart, piercing the liver and God knows what else. "How could you?" Damon raged. "How could you save Matt and let her die? Now, she'll be a vampire."

He aimed another stake at his brother's heart to show his anger and was stunned when Stefan grabbed it and pushed in with all his strength. The slat just pierced the ribs and had started into the heart when Damon pulled back, smashing into the opposite wall from the violence of his yank. He sat, sprawled on his butt, watching in shock as Stefan's face started to gray. Damon flashed over to a blood bag, ripping off the plug, forcing blood down Stefan's throat. He watched anxiously as the slow spread of grey first stopped and then retreated.

When Stefan's face color was normal Damon exploded. "Are you crazy? I wasn't going to kill you, just threaten you. I should kill you for that?" He immediately realized that made no sense but he was too upset to care.

"Just end it. Please!" Stefan begged.

Damon put a hand on the wall next to Stefan's head and leaned in to stare at him. "What about Elena?"

"You'll help her. I messed up everything. I just wanted to do . . wanted to do . . what she wanted." Stefan's head rolled to the side.

Damon grabbed him by the hair and straightened his head. "You're both idiots and look where it got you."

When he released his grip on Stefan's hair, his brother's head fell forward. A groan escaped him but Damon made no move to pull the stake out. He felt justified in pointing out. "You deserve to be in pain."

Damon paced to the door and back, finally stopping by Elena's body. He gently cupped her cheek, leaning down to kiss her forehead, whispering. "Now look what you've done."

Her pallor matched the standard bleached white hospital sheets. Her dark lashes, eyebrows, and hair made a startling contrast to her colorless skin, which seemed strange without its normal healthy glow.

He sighed and shook his head. He put a fist to his mouth, cradling his elbow with his other hand, thinking for a moment. "This is my fault."

Stefan managed to pick his head up. "No . . my fault . . all my fault . . . not yours." He unsteadily managed.

Damon frowned at him and then walked over and gave him a good slap, knocking his head back into the wall. "Have I told you yet, you're an idiot? If I didn't, then I'm telling you now."

Stefan blinked at him, blood dripping from a cut in the corner of his mouth.

Damon leaned against the wall next to Stefan, arms crossed, speaking more to himself then to his brother. "I've let an eighteen year old girl and an unstable blood junkie that's always struggling to stay in control have the final say. It's gotten us into a never ending series of disasters and still I've stood back and let it continue. Why?"

Damon now turned to his brother and asked. "Do you know why?"

Stefan, his head hanging on his chest, didn't even attempt to answer.

Damon answered his own question. "Because I was afraid of losing her." He frowned. "Afraid of losing you."

Damon straightened, pushing himself off the wall. "No more. I'm the eldest, little brother, and it's time I started acting like the head of the family. From now on I run things. No democracy in our new little family. It's going to be a dictatorship."

Stefan groaned and pleaded. "Either kill me or let me go. I promise I'll never come back. " His eyes glazed with tears he begged. "I don't want to see the hate in her eyes when she wakes up a vampire."

Damon shook his head, disgusted. "There you go again brother. She won't hate you. You saved her precious Matty. And I can't let you go cause she'll insist on following you."

"She never wanted to be a vampire. She may choose to die." The pain caused Stefan to pant and he shifted uneasily. His hands went to the slat but Damon moved at vampire speed to shatter one of the slats into tiny wooden stakes. He spread Stefan's arms out, staking his hands to the wall. Stefan bit his lip through, stifling a scream of pain.

"Wha . . Why?" Stefan groaned.

Damon smirked at him. "Well for one thing you deserve it for sheer stupidity and for another it's great blackmail."

Stefan shook his head too overcome with pain to attempt to follow Damon's reasoning. His brother seeing the glaze in his eyes explained.

"This is my show now. I'll have Elena drinking blood before she realizes what's she's doing. I'm not gonna go through the martyr routine." Damon seemed very pleased with himself.

"And then her eyes are going to spot her beloved Stefan pinned to the wall like a butterfly on a collector's plate. She'll stop thinking about herself and her protective instincts will kick in. She'll berate me." He stopped and thought about it and then nodded to himself, sure he had it right.

He tossed his hair back. "Then I'll play my trump card. I'll tell her that you'll never survive without her and neither will I. I'll point out that she's no longer human and human morals don't affect us. It will be both of us or neither."

He congratulated himself. "I am such a genius."

Stefan looked at him, not sure he heard right. "You . . she . . . won't wor. . "

Damon impatiently broke in. "It will work. It's what she secretly wants. Me, to provide her with excitement and risk, to challenge her and spar with her and you . . you love her unconditionally. No matter what she does you'll accept it."

Damon sobered for a moment and then cracked a huge smile. "And she can mother you. When you stray she'll nag me until we get you back on the straight and narrow."

Damon walked over and checked on his brother. Blood was still dripping, the healing process slowed dramatically by the partial heart puncture. He ran the back of his hand over Stefan's cheek. "You've gotta suffer a little longer, little bro. It will be more dramatic with you looking like death warmed over but it will be okay. We'll be together, the three of us, and I'll take care of you."

Dull, pain filled green eyes met sparkling blue and Stefan struggled to whisper. "Promise?"

Damon nodded, totally serious. "You can count on it."

A huge gasp made Damon spin around. He saw Elena's chest heave and he rushed over with a blood bag. He poured some into her open mouth, massaging her throat forcing blood down.

She struggled as awareness came to her. "Damon! No!"

"Too late! It's done."

"How could you?" She sat up, ineffectually slapping at him.

Damon gently caught her hands between his. He smiled that lopsided smile that he knew melted her heart and spoke quietly. "Because Jeremy out in the waiting room needs you. He has no one now but you. He told me to tell you he doesn't care. You could be a werewolf and vampire. He just wants you with him."

Elena's eyes softened. Damon continued the attack. "Because Matt could never forgive himself if you died. You would ruin his life forever, knowing you sacrificed yourself for him."

Elena, now stricken with remorse, looked searchingly at Damon. He nodded to show he was speaking the truth.

He continued. "And I need you." He shrugged. "Can't live without you."

Now Elena's eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill over. "Oh, Damon. I've hurt so many people."

Damon gently wiped her eyes with his thumbs. "You're making your mascara run. You really are a mess."

That made her laugh through her sobs. "Don't be a jerk. I was in a river. Course my mascara's run."

She haltingly explained. "But I can't leave Stef . . ."

Damon quickly interrupted and jerked his head over his shoulder. "He's there. He needs both of us."

Elena looked over and caught her breath. "Damon, no . . what? Don't hurt him."

"If you don't want him hurt then it has to be the three of us." Damon kept his tone nonchalant but for all his confident boasting he was nervous.

"What? We can't. People would talk." Elena laughed nervously.

"We're not people." Damon said gently.

Elena looked at Stefan and then back to him. "You're not serious. Katherine tore you apart. I can't bear that."

Damon grabbed her hands bringing first one, then the other to his lips, gently kissing them. "I am serious. We can't do it any other way. Both of us or none of us."

They stared into each other's eyes while she reached up to cup his cheek. Never taking his eyes from her he twisted his lips to kiss her palm. She marveled. "I won't lose either one of you?"

Damon smiled. "Stuck with the Salvatore brothers forever. Not everyone would consider that a plus."

She beamed with happiness and he caught his breath at her beauty.

A low moan made their heads turn simultaneously. "How could you?" She berated him.

"I knew you would say that." Damon smirked.

He put out his hand and she placed hers in it. Together they went to rescue their third. She grabbed a nearby blood bag and sank to the floor with him when Damon pulled out the stakes. She started issuing orders as she rested Stefan's head back against her shoulder, and held the bag to his lips. "Go get Matt and Jeremy and bring them in here and then get Meredith in to work out a story . . . "

Damon rolled his eyes and shook his head as he walked out. "This isn't the way it went in my head."

~FIN~


End file.
